Quick-action wrench



. April 29, 1924. 1,492,478

J. J. MARKOVICH QUICK ACTION WRENCH Filed July 5 1922 Ilun INVENTOR.

Q ire 17A f/ZJ /(Q V /L ATTORNEY.

T atented Apr. 29, 11924.

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insane JOSEPH J. MARKOVICH, OF UNIONTOVIN, EENNSYLVANIA.

QUICK-ACTION WRENCH.

Application filed July 3,

To all whom it may concern: 7

Be it known that l, JosErr-r J. MARKOVICH, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at Uniontown, county of Fayette, and State ofPennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful. Improvements inQuick- Action renches, of which the following is a specification.

The present invention relates to improvements in wrenches, andparticularly in a wrench as disclosed in my Patent No. 1,1e7,181, datedJuly 20, 1915. I

In practice I have discovered that a wrench. constructed as disclosed inmy above identified patent showed the following disadvantages Theoperation of the movable jaw was too unhandy with the arrangementdisclosed in Figure 1 of my said patent, the

upward movement of the movable jaw was not limited and it happened veryfrequently in practice that the jaw was withdrawn altogether so thatmuch time was lost in fitting it back into its place, and finally nolimit was provided for the lateral displacement of element 25, and nomeans for automatically guiding the same back into its normal position.

It is the principal object of my invention to overcome all thesedisadvantages by providing a stop to the upward motion of the movablejaw, by providing a spring for antomatically guiding the guide block forthe movable jaw into its original position after each operation and forlimiting its lateral displacement.

Another ob 'ect of the invention is the provision of the movable jawwith slanting teeth and of arranging the operating lever for the jawlocking and releasing pawl at a place allowing a most convenientoperation of the same.

These and other like objects and advantages of my invention will becomemore fully apparent as the descri tion thereof proceeds, and will thenbe specifi-cally'pointed out in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawing, forming a material part of this disclosure:

Figure 1 is a side view of a wrench constructed according to the presentinvention. Figure 2 is a front view of the same.

Figure 3 is a fragmentary side view of a modified form of my wrench.

Figure 4 is a top plan view and longitudinal section of the stationaryjaw showing 1922.- Serial No. 572,359.

the same provided with teeth at its ping face, and I Figure 5 showssimilar views with the jaw provided with a corrugated gripping face.

The wrench comprises the customary stationary jaw integrally made with ashaft or handle 11, and a movable jaw 12 with a shaft 13. The mova blejaw 12. is formed with an exchangeable gripping element 141 secured tothe jaw 12 by means of a screw 15 and is providedat its lower face withteeth 16.

The rear edge of the shaft 13 for the movable jaw is provided withslanting teeth 17 adapted to be engaged by the teeth of a member 18secured at its upper end, as at 19, to the inner wall of. a casing 20through whichthe shaft 13 is guidechand which is pivotally secured nearits inner upper end as at 21 to the shaft 11. A pawl 22 is pivotallysecured intermediate its ends, as at 23 to the inner wall of housing 20,and its upper end engages a shoulder 2 1 at the lower end of member 18while its lowenend projects out of casing 20. A leaf spring 25 securedwith its upper end as at 26, to casing 20 enters the casing 20, andpresses with its lower end against the rear edge of member 18 tonormally hold the teeth of the same in engagement with the teeth ofshaft 13. The lower end of the shaft 13 is provided at its inner edgewith a stop screw 27 adapted to engage a stop pin 28 connecting the sidewalls of casing 20 and to limit the upward movement of jaw 12.

The housing 20 has an extension 29 at its lower inner end through whichthe shaft 11 of the stationary jaw extends, and a leaf spring 30 issecured with its lower end as at 31 to the front edge of shaft 11, whileits upper, curved end extends into the housing and engages the innerwall of extension 29,

as indicated at 32.

The stationary jaw 10 is formed as illustrated in Figures 1 and 5 by anelement 33 provided at its upper gripping face with teeth 34 orcorrugations 35, and this element is secured by means of a screw 36passed through a hole 37 in the end face of the element into the jaw 10,The front end of element 35 is provided with checks 38 permitting thepassage of and guiding the shaft 13 of the movable jaw.

In Figure 3 a modified form of my invention is illustrated showing amovable jaw 39, the shank 40 of which is provided with teeth 41 and 42on both of its opposite edges, while the shank is guided through ahousing 43, pivotally secured near its upper edge as at 44, to the shank45 of the stationary jaw 46. The housing 43 has a transverse opening 47,and a projecting nose 48. In opening 47 a knurled. nut 49 is carried inthe usual manner by shank 40 of the movable jaw 39 to verticallydisplace the same. A leaf spring 50 is secured with its lower end toshaft 45 and its upper curved end enters the nose 48 and engages theinner wall thereof as indicated at 51.

The wrench is operated in the following manner:

If it is desired to clamp an object between the movable and stationaryjaws, the operator presses pawl 22 and spring 30 between the thumb andindex finger together which will allow a free movement of shaft 13 toadjust the jaws 12 and 10 to grip the object. After releasing pawl 22and spring 30 the jaws will grip over the object between them and anoperation of handle 11 will tend to tighten the grip of the jaws, underthe lateral displacement of casing 20 and shank 13, while spring willreturn the parts automatically into their normal positions when the jawsare released from the object.

The engagement between stop 27 and pin 28 will limit the upward movementof the movable jaw so it cannot become accidentally detached from thewrench.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is A wrench including afixed jaw, a shank therefor, a movable jaw, a shank therefor, a hollowcasing pivotally connected to the shank of the fixed jaw with itsrespective side walls normally in spaced relation to the shanks of thefixed and movable jaws, a spring intermediate the shank of the fixed jaw and the adjacent side walls of the casing to hold the casing innormal position, a looking member mounted in the casing between theshank of the movable jaw and the adjacent side wall of the casing,cooperating teeth on the locking member and movable jaw shank, means foroperating the locking member, a pin arranged transverse the casingbetween the respective shanks, and a projection on the lower end of theshank of the movable aw to engage said pin and limit the openingmovement of said movable jaw.

In testimony whereof I have aflixed my signature.

JOSEPH J. MARKOVICH.

